Starting a blog for your small business is a great idea. Blogs are an easy, engaging way to generate the all-important fresh content that helps boost your site’s ranking in search engines. That said, in order for your blog to become a successful marketing tool, you’ll need to put some thought and effort into creating and maintaining it.
What should you know before you jump on the blogging bandwagon? Here are some important questions to consider.
Your five W’s
The five W’s—who, what, where, when, and why—are questions that journalists strive to answer with every piece they write. Prior to starting a blog, you should clarify your own five W’s to help guide your content.
- Who are you writing for? Identify your target audience—an exercise you may have already completed for your general marketing efforts—and make sure your content is geared toward them.
- What are you going to write about? Establish a shortlist of core topics that will interest your audience, and base most of your posts on these topics.
- Where will you host your blog? You can use one of the popular free blogging platforms, like WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr (remember to link back to your business website), or integrate your blog directly into your site.
- When are you going to post to your blog? Continual fresh content is the key to a successful blog, but if you try to create too many entries too soon, you’ll burn out fast. Decide on a realistic schedule—such as one or two posts a week—and stick to it.
- Why are you starting a blog? It’s important to understand what a blog can do for your business, and identify your primary goals so you can work toward achieving them.
A good blog with valuable, frequently updated content can help to drive traffic to your small business site and increase your search engine rankings. With a bit of planning and forethought, you can create a quality blog that boosts your business.